Ashraqat Mahmoud, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology
In the lab, we used RFID-based tracking of the movements of animals in two colonies of African naked mole-rats and three colonies of Damaraland mole-rats. Through doing this, I learned how to properly use radio identification (RFID) to track and record the movements of animals. By using a program called R-studio, I was able to save the recordings of the animals’ movements, and used a package known as Lomb to convert the recordings into a periodogram. This taught me several coding skills, which I was able to enhance the more I practiced recording the animal movements and saving them.
In conducting this research, we found that colony differences in activity patterns have not been previously reported, and we plan on following up by observing whether social factors play a role.
We observed differences in the concentration of colony nests. In the naked mole-rat colonies, for example, we saw that the Teddy colony tends to have a densely occupied single nest, while the Layla-Felix colony has a nest that is spread over a few chambers. By measuring the frequency of behaviors specific to the nest environment, we could determine how social behaviors influence daily activity patterns.
My experience conducting research has improved my communication and collaboration skills. Although our lab consisted of several students working on different things, we always worked together and shared ideas with one another. Collaborating with my fellow lab members allowed me to enhance my problem-solving skills, as well as make new friends and new connections. This made my research experience much more enjoyable.
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